Salina, N.Y. — A 49-year-old man died early Thursday after being hit by a car on Interstate 81 northbound near an overpass above the Northern Lights Plaza.
Shortly after midnight, a 911 caller reported that a car hit a pedestrian on I-81 northbound near Exit 26 toward Mattydale, according to Onondaga County 911 Center dispatches. The man was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the sheriff’s office.
The man had gotten out of a car on the highway after getting involved in a minor crash with another car, deputies said.
The man was then hit by another car passing the crash as he was outside the vehicle, deputies said. The victim has not been publicly identified by authorities.
All the people involved in the crash stayed on the scene and cooperated with the investigation, said Tom Newton, a sheriff’s office spokesperson. No tickets have been issued yet, Newton said.
All I-81 northbound lanes and some southbound lanes were shut down overnight after the car hit a pedestrian on the highway.
Around 12:30 a.m., deputies shut down all northbound lanes of I-81 between Exit 26 to Mattydale and Exit 28 to Salina, according to a state alert system. Around 1 a.m., deputies also shut down most southbound lanes.
At 5:30 a.m., the highway fully reopened.